Multimedia routing system for securing third party participation in call consultation or call transfer of a call in progress

ABSTRACT

A multimedia router has code executable on the router from storage on a machine readable medium coupled to the router, the code providing routing functions, and a routing point identified in the router code for establishing at least one non-voice communications session between two or more communications appliances enabled for non-voice communications. During a voice call established between a calling party and one of the two or more communications appliances, the routing point is invoked from the called communications appliance by issuance of a non-voice routing request to establish at least one non-voice communications session between the called communications appliance and another of the two or more communications appliances.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is in the field of telephony communicationsincluding data network telephony, of which Internet protocol networktelephony is a subset, and pertains particularly to methods andapparatus for synchronizing multimedia requests during call distributionwithin a communications center.

2. Discussion of the State of the Art

In the field of telephony communications, call centers have evolved intomultimedia communications centers where agents using a variety ofreal-time media handle service and sales requests. Agents of acommunications center are typically equipped with a local area network(LAN)-connected computer having a graphic user interface (GUI) and atelephone handset or headset for conducting voice calls. Agents may alsoengage customers using instant messaging and other real-time textmessaging services, Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), and real-timechat applications.

Various types of customer engagement campaigns may be practiced in acommunications center environment. Customers calling into the center maydo so through telephone networks such as the public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN), wireless carrier networks, and from the Internetnetwork. Voice calls may be answered by interactive voice response (IVR)attendant and be pre-screened before routing those calls requiring liveassistance to an appropriate queue for connecting to live agents.

In a state-of-the-art communications center it is desired that revenueloss caused by customer dropout from queue while waiting for liveassistance is kept to a minimum. However, certain types of campaignsrequire interface by a first agent followed by transfer to a secondagent to finish call processing. One example would be that of anoutbound contact campaign where live agents are used to qualifyconnected leads (customers connected by voice) for transaction closers(also live agents). Outbound connections are routed internally asinbound calls, but from a business perspective carry a higher prioritythan cold inbound calls because of a higher probability that an agentwill be able to successfully resolve them.

A problem exists in such a scenario as described above where the firstagent must find a second agent to which to transfer the qualified callerto finish a transaction. The caller must be placed on hold in manyinstances to wait for a second agent to become available and connect. Asa result, a certain percentage of these callers drop out of queue whileon hold waiting for an agent.

Therefore, what is clearly needed is a system and methods for enablingcalls in progress with live agents to be transferred or otherwiseserviced by second agents without requiring these calls to be placed onhold while second agents are found to finish transactions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The problem stated above is that it is desirable to retain callers inconversation with an agent while waiting for an available agent to takea call transfer or to conference in with the caller and original agentin a call center routing system, but many of the conventional means fortransferring calls and securing a second agent for conferencing, such assingle media routing routines, also facilitate a certain percentage oflost revenue due to callers dropping out from queue during the wait foran available second agent. The inventors therefore considered functionalcomponents of a call-center routing system, looking for elements thatexhibit interoperability that could potentially be harnessed to providecall transfer and consult services for connected callers but in a mannerthat would not create a predictable amount of revenue loss due to callsdropped while waiting for the second agent to become available.

The success of every call center sales campaign depends in part on theproficiency of live agents generating transactions, one by-product ofwhich is profit for the center. Most such call centers employ telephonerouting systems with interaction queues to manage the incomingtransaction flow from the customer access channels including outboundcontacts converted into valuable inbound calls, and call routing andqueuing systems are typically a part of such apparatus.

The present inventor realized in an inventive moment that if, at thepoint of need during a live interaction, a caller could remain engagedwith the original agent while a second agent is found to accept a calltransfer or call consult request, more profit for the campaign mightresult. The inventor therefore constructed a unique routing system for acall center system that allowed agents requiring assistance from asecond agent to resolve a transaction by call transfer or call consultto initiate routing requests for such services while maintaining thecurrent connection with the caller. A significant increase in revenueresults, with no impediment to call flow or call handling proficiencycreated.

Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention, a multimediarouter is provided and includes code executable on the router fromstorage on a machine readable medium coupled to the router, the codeproviding routing functions, and a routing point identified in therouter code for establishing at least one non-voice communicationssession between two or more communications appliances enabled fornon-voice communications. During a voice call established between acalling party and one of the two or more communications appliances, therouting point is invoked from the called communications appliance byissuance of a non-voice routing request to establish at least onenon-voice communications session between the called communicationsappliance and another of the two or more communications appliances.

In one embodiment the two or more communications appliances are one or amix of fixed and or mobile telephones, computing appliances or acombination thereof. In one embodiment the routing request is queued andthen, if no appliances are ready to take a voice call, routed to one ofa plurality of enabled communications appliances wherein the averagehandling time for the current transaction being handled at the applianceis close to or has exceeded a limit, and therefore probable to becomeshortly available.

In a preferred embodiment, upon the routing request being accepted, atransaction server enabled with session initiation protocol (SIP)establishes as the non-voice communication session, one of an instantmessage session, a chat session, a file sharing session, or acombination thereof. In one embodiment the established voice call is aone of an analog voice call or a VoIP call.

In one embodiment data about the call and/or the calling party isforwarded to the accepting communications appliance from the requestingcommunications appliance over the non-voice session established. In oneembodiment, after establishment of the non-voice communication session,the router transfers the voice session from the called communicationsappliance to the communications appliance connected to the calledcommunications appliance via the non-voice session. In anotherembodiment the non-voice session established between the calledcommunications appliance and the other of two or more communicationsappliances is a consulting session and the voice session is nottransferred.

In one embodiment in the event of call transfer, after the establishmentof the voice transaction between the calling party and the acceptingcommunication appliance, the original voice transaction is terminated.In one embodiment as a result of the non-voice communications sessionestablished between the called communications appliance and theaccepting communications appliance, a second non-voice communicationssession is established between the caller operating a SIP-enabledappliance and the accepting communications appliance.

In one embodiment the caller remains connected to the calledcommunications appliance in voice session while interacting with theaccepting communications appliance over the second non-voicecommunications session.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method for solicitingengagement of a party to a voice communications session in progressbetween a calling party and one of two or more communications appliancesis provided comprising steps for (a) receiving at a router a request forestablishment of a non-voice communications session from the calledcommunications appliance during the voice session, (b) routing therequest to a selected one of the two or more communications appliances,and (c) establishing a non-voice communications session between therequesting communications appliance and the selected one of the two ormore communications appliances upon the request being accepted at theselected communications appliance.

In one aspect of the method in step (b), the selection is made upondetermining current or near term availability of a communicationsappliance, near term meaning that the appliance is currently engaged ina voice session. In one aspect the method includes a step (d) forconveying or causing conveyance of information about the caller andvoice session in progress to the accepting communications appliance overthe non-voice session.

In a preferred aspect of the method, in step (c) a transaction serverenabled with session initiation protocol (SIP) establishes as thenon-voice communication session, one of an instant message session, achat session, a file sharing session, or a combination thereof. In oneaspect the two or more communications appliances are one or a mix offixed and or mobile telephones, computing appliances, or a combinationthereof.

In one aspect where information about the caller or call is conveyed tothe accepting communications device in step (d), the conveyance ofinformation occurs while the calling party is in conversation with anagent operating the called communications appliance while a second agentoperating the appliance connected to the called appliance via non-voicesession is completing a transaction with another caller.

In one aspect the method includes a step (d) for transferring the voicesession in progress between the calling party and the calledcommunications appliance to the communications appliance connected bynon-voice session to the called appliance. In another embodiment themethod includes a step (d) for establishing a non-voice session betweenthe caller and the communications appliance connected in non-voicesession at step (c) while the caller is connected in voice session tothe original communications appliance. In one aspect of the method instep (c) information sharing over the non-voice session is performedbetween a calling campaign application and a sales application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is an architectural view of a communications network 100supporting multimedia synchronized call distribution to live resourcesaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a process flow chart illustrating steps 200 for initiating aconsult request for a call transfer according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a first and second agent terminalinvolved in a call transfer according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a call flow diagram illustrating session setup and teardownusing SIP according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a process flow chart illustrating steps 500 for synchronizingrouting routine with SIP services according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present inventors provide a unique multimedia call distributionsystem that allows connected callers to be transferred from originalagents to second agents to aid in call resolution, reducing oreliminating dropout. The system and methods for practicing the presentinvention are described in enabling detail using the following examples,which may represent more than one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is an architectural view of a communications network 100supporting multimedia synchronized call distribution to live resourcesaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. Communicationsnetwork 100 includes a wide area network (WAN) 101, apublic-switched-telephone-network (PSTN) 102, and a wireless carriernetwork (WN) 103. A communications center environment (CCE) isillustrated in this example and includes, among other communicationscenter equipment, an agent campaign group (CG) 104 and an agent salesgroup (SG) 105. Each agent group, CG 104 and SG 105 is supported by acommunication center LAN 106 provided within the communications centerenvironment.

CG 104 includes a plurality of individual agent terminals or stations125 (a-n). Each campaign terminal includes, in this example, aLAN-connected computing appliance and a telephone handset. SG 105includes a like plurality of individual agent terminals or stations 123(a-n). Each sales terminal includes, in this example, a LAN-connectedcomputing appliance and a telephone handset. In this example the termterminal refers to an individual destination point for a routed callrather than a single communications device. Each agent terminal in CG104 or in SG 105 may include multiple communications devices. Thedepiction of a computer having a GUI and a telephone handset isexemplary only. Laptops, personal digital assistants, cellulartelephones, fax machines, and the like may all be included as potentialcommunications devices within an agent terminal.

Handsets illustrated within agent terminals 122 (a-n) and agentterminals 123 (a-n) are connected to a central telephone switch (CS) 113maintained within the communications center environment. CS 113 may be aprivate branch exchange (PBX) connected internally within in the centerto all of the agent handsets. In one embodiment all of the handsets arePBX telephones adapted to handle VoIP calls and are further enabled topractice session initiation protocol (SIP), which is a well-knowncommunications protocol for enabling peer-to-peer data and voicesessions between participating terminals or end devices. CS 113 may be asoft switch instead of a hardware switch without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention. In this example thecommunications center environment is represented by all of thecommunications and routing equipment having LAN support of LAN 106.

CS 113 is enhanced for computer telephony integration (CTI) by way of aCTI processor 115 connected to the switch by a CTI link. CTI processoris connected to LAN 106 and provides call-processing intelligence to CS113. CS 113 is connected to a local telephone switch (LS) 112 in thetelephone network by a telephone trunk 124. LS 112 may be an automatedcall distributor (ACD), a PBX, or another type of call processingswitch. LS 112 may represent a last stop for telephone calls destinedfor CS 113 and internal call distribution. LS 112 may accept calls fromPSTN 102. LS 103 may also accept calls from WN 103 through appropriatenetwork gateway (not shown). LS 112 may also accept calls from WAN 101.

In this example an IVR unit 114 connected to CTI processor 115 and toswitch 113 intercepts callers registered at switch 113. IVR 114 is usedto prescreen callers for self-service channels and for live interactionchannels. Inbound interaction requests may include direct inboundinteractions and inbound interactions that were solicited through aproactive campaign such as an outbound contact campaign. Other proactivecampaigns such as Web-based proactive invitation may also be practicedin this example without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

An outbound contact server (OCS) 116 is provided within the CCE and isconnected to LAN 106 and to CTI processor 115. OCS 116 includes adigital storage medium internal thereto or otherwise accessible theretofor storing the data and software required to enable server function. Inthis example the CCE is running an outbound calling campaign using OCS116, which is adapted to dial out and connect to customers from acustomer list. Customers that answer outbound calls are connected to IVR114 for initial processing and then routed to available agents in CG 104for transaction setup and qualification. The CCE includes a queue system(QS) 121 connected to LAN 106. Queue system 121 includes an agentinteraction queue (AIQ) 127 for CG 104 and an AIQ for SG 105. Calls thatrequire live assistance are routed to AIQ 127 initially to wait for anavailable campaign agent from CG 104. QS 121 may include a separatesales request queue (SRQ) 129. SRQ 129 is adapted to queue requests forsales assistance generated from agents in CG 104 whom are in directcommunication with customers. In one embodiment AIQ for SG 105 is apriority ordered queue wherein sales requests take priority over generalunsolicited inbound interactions in the queue at certain times or on acontinuous basis.

LAN 106 is enabled in this example for transfer control protocol overInternet protocol (TCP/IP) and other Internet protocols. LAN 106supports a routing server (RS) 119 within the CCE that is adapted toserve routing strategies to requesting machines and or software clients.RS 119 includes a digital storage medium (not shown) internal thereto orotherwise accessible thereto for storing the data and software requiredto enable server function. LAN 106 supports a statistics server (SS) 117adapted to serve current real-time statistics about the CCE such asestimated waiting time (EWT) in queue, average handling time (AHT) of acall by an agent or group of agents, and other like statistics. Server117 may also maintain current statistics on agent availability for allagents working within the CCE. Server 117 includes a digital storagemedium internal thereto or otherwise accessible thereto for storing thedata and software required to enable server function.

LAN 106 supports an Internet protocol router (IR) 118. IR 118 providesconnection for the CCE to the Internet represented herein by WAN 101 andalso by an Internet backbone 107. IR 118 has connectivity to theInternet via an Internet access line 111. Internet backbone representsthe lines, equipment, and access points that make up the Internetnetwork as a whole. Therefore, there are no geographic limitations tothe practice of the present invention. Internet backbone 107 supports aWeb server (WS) 109 adapted to contain and serve Websites including Webpages upon request using a request response protocol. WS 109 may behosted by a Web services provider or by the CCE. In one embodiment WS109 includes a corporate Web site leveraged by an organizationcontracting with the CCE to provide call center services. In thisembodiment visitors may access the Web site of the company and mayinitiate both self service and live treatment through the Web siteinterface (typically a single Web page or form).

Potential customers may access WS 109 and the mentioned company orcorporate Web site from anywhere in the Internet, from WAN 101, whichmay be a corporate network, or from a wireless carrier network such asWN 103. One with skill in the art will recognize the ambiguity relativeto the physical boundaries of disparate networks and that bridgingbetween these networks provided seamless transition of communicationsand data from one network to another.

LAN 106 supports a transaction server (TS) 120 enabled for SIP. TS 120has a direct connection over a separate digital network to RS 119. TS120 is adapted to set up live interactive sessions between potentialcustomers and agents working within the CCE environment according toinstruction served by RS 119. TS 120 includes a digital storage mediuminternal thereto or otherwise accessible thereto for storing the dataand software required to enable server function. In this embodiment TS120 is enhanced with SIP and may serve in some embodiments as an SIPproxy server. Other digital call control and setup protocols may be usedin place of SIP in this example such as H.323 protocol without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention. The inventor choosesSIP for multimedia session setup and teardown because of versatility andsimplicity.

In this embodiment agent terminals 125 (a-n) in CG 104 have campaignapplications installed one application per at each agent terminal. Inthis example they are computer desktop applications however in otherembodiments they may be installed on other devices in addition to orinstead of on a LAN connected PC such as on a SIP-enabled cellulartelephone or SIP-enabled PBX phone connected to the network. Campaignapplications 125 (a-n) are adapted to facilitate resource applicationand agent proficiency in communication with customers and in initiatingconsult requests to agents in sales when their services are required.Also in this embodiment agent terminals 123 (a-n) in SG 105 have salesapplications installed one application per at each agent terminal. Salesapplication s 123 (a-n) are adapted to facilitate resource applicationand agent proficiency in communication with customers and in receivingconsult call requests from agents in CG 104 and when accepted, dataabout pending transactions and information about the customers receivingthe transaction assistance.

In one embodiment the CCE characterized by all of the describedequipment and functionality supported by LAN 106 relies on a pure SIPenvironment for all live communication. In this case all communicationsdevices are SIP enabled and have appropriate universal resourceidentifiers (URIs) for SIP and interaction routing purposes. A typicalSIP URI for a SIP-enabled telephone might be of the form sip:username:password@host:port.

In practice of the present invention in one embodiment, inbound voicecalls resulting from outbound campaign activity arrive at CS 113 forinternal routing. From a business point of view, these inbound callsresulting from proactive solicitation activity are a higher prioritythan unsolicited inbound traffic, which may or may not require liveassistance. Pre-solicited inbound calls are routed to AIQ CG 127 to waitfor available agents working terminals 122 (a-n) in CG 104. Thesecallers have accepted an outbound call and have agreed to talk with acampaign agent. EWT of queue 127 is controlled so that it is relativelyshort in duration to discourage any callers from dropping out of queuewhile waiting for a campaign agent. In one embodiment agents in CG 104do not answer unsolicited inbound calls, in part to ensure agentavailability for these higher priority pre-solicited interactions.

CTI processor 115 may request transaction service from SIP-enabled TS120, which consults with RS 119 for routing strategy for each callregistered as CS 113 and represented in queue 127 that has beendetermined by IVR 114 to require live assistance. When an agent such asan agent working at terminal 122 c becomes available, the next call atthe top of queue 127 is routed to that agent. SIP-enabled TS 120 isresponsible for setting up the SIP voice session and for tearing it downat conclusion of the session. A SIP session may be set up between CS 113and the agent computing appliance or at the telephone of terminal 122 cin this example. The SIP session may be setup in this case between CS113 and the telephone handset of agent terminal 122 c of CG 104. Thetelephone may in certain embodiments, register a ringing event and dataabout the call and caller will appear on the agent's desktop in theappropriate campaign application.

In this example the campaign agent qualifies the caller for atransaction with one of the sales agents of SG 105. Agents in SG 105 maybe working normal unsolicited inbound traffic along with campaigntraffic. Therefore, there may be periods of time during peak trafficwhere all of the agents of SG 104 are busy handling live transactions.During the conversation between the caller and the campaign agentworking terminal 122 c in this example, the caller may agree to a salestransaction. However, rather than putting the caller on hold to wait foran agent from SG 104 to become available in the case that there are noready agents available to work the transaction, the campaign agent withthe aid of the campaign application installed on the computingappliance, initiates an SIP request for sales consultation with a liveagent from group 105.

In one embodiment the SIP request is an IM chat request deposited in aspecialized queue SRQ 129 and SIP-enabled TS 120 processes the requestfrom queue based on instruction from RS 119. In one embodiment all SIPrequests for sales consultation from a live agent of SG 105 are sentdirectly to TS 120 where they are processed normally as an SIP request.A routing point is defined as a point in a process where a routingdecision may be required. In this case the overall process is concludinga campaign call with a sales transaction facilitated by a second agentskilled in that purpose. The routing point occurs in the process if thecaller verbally agrees to the prospect of engaging a second agent. Inthis case the sales consult request is initiated by the campaign agentmanually and the routing point is defined within the routing code on RS119.

TS 120 consults with RS 119 for routing strategy. RS 119 consults SS 117for current availability statistics for agents working terminals123(a-n). In a case where all of the agents are currently unavailablefor voice interaction, the routing strategy picks the agent with apredicted least amount of handling time left in a current transactioncompared to other agents who are busy handling transactions. RS 119serves a routing instruction for the request for consult to TS 120,which sets up an IM channel between the initiating campaign agentworking terminal 122 c and the target sales agent, such as one workingterminal 123 a for example.

The target sales agent receives a chat request for a consult call fromthe original campaign agent while the caller is still in a voice sessionwith the campaign agent. The sales agent can accept the IM chat sessionwithout interrupting the flow of the current transaction in which he orshe may be engaged. The sales agent may be asked to accept a calltransfer or a “conference in” using voice so that the sales agent mayassist with or may take over the transaction from the campaign agent.All of the information relative to the call in progress and the callermay be conveyed to the agent through the IM session coupled with a filesharing session or capability also enabled through the session orenabled in a parallel session using a file sharing application inaddition to the IM application. Some applications enable both file shareand data transfer over the same SIP session. In one embodiment transferof caller information and relevant data concerning the pendingtransaction is an automated function of routing so that when the SIPsession between the campaign agent and the sales agent is establishedthe relevant data is transferred from the appropriate storage databaseand from the call itself (data attached to call).

In a situation where the connected outbound calls take priority overdirect, unsolicited inbound calls, the sales agents receiving IMrequests for consulting may be required to engage these callers toassist in or to perform transactions before taking the next unsolicitedinbound calls waiting in queue. Predictive routing strategy alwaysselects a busy sales agent that has the least amount of estimatedhandling time left for handling their current transaction. In this waythe current transactions can be finished without interruption and thepriority calls coming into the campaign group do not have to wait inqueue to wait for a sales agent to become available.

FIG. 2 is a process flow chart 200 illustrating steps for initiating aconsult request for a call transfer according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. At step 201 an outbound call connected to a caller isqueued for an available agent from a campaign group such as CG 104 ofFIG. 1. In this step the caller data and intent of the call may bedisplayed on the GUI of the computing appliance associated with theagent terminal of the agent selected to receive the call.

At step 202 the campaign agent takes the call. In one embodimentoutbound calls are paced in frequency of dialing according to theavailability statistics for the campaign agents working the queue. Atstep 203 the connected caller verbally agrees to a sales transaction. Inone embodiment the IVR qualifies the caller for transaction and thecampaign agent performs some preliminary processing, which must beperformed before the transaction can move forward.

The transaction in this case is to be performed by a sales agent from asales group, and it is assumed that the connected outbound calls havepriority over any direct unsolicited inbound calls. It is also assumedthat sales agents are working normal inbound traffic along withconnected out bound calls. At step 204 a SIP-enabled transaction serverresponsible for building and tearing down communications sessions callsa routing server analogous to RS 119 of FIG. 1 to look for an availablesales agent that can assist or take over the pending transaction. Therouting server relies on statistics to determine availability of a salesagent.

At step 205 the system determines if there is an available sales agentready to assist or to take a call transfer. If there is an agent readyto assist the campaign agent then at step 206 the call may betransferred to the sales agent to complete the transaction or the salesagent may be conference in to assist in the transaction. In this casethe caller does not have to wait in queue because there is an idle salesagent ready to assist with the call. In a pure SIP embodiment thetransaction server builds the connection for the call transfer orconference call. However, at step 205 there may not be an idle agentready to engage the caller. That is to say that all sales agents may becurrently busy handling transactions. In this case at step 205 it isdetermined that no agents are available to take the call. At step 207the campaign agent in voice session with the caller initiates a SIPconsult request in an alternate media like an IM chat request, forexample.

SIP-enabled sales terminals may conduct both chat and voice sessionssimultaneously. The request initiated at step 207 may be queued in apriority ordered sales queue wherein the request sits on top of thequeue (first out) for processing. In one embodiment a specialized queuemay be set up for queuing consult requests when all agents are busy. Atstep 208 the transaction server processes the request, in oneembodiment, and calls the routing server to look for a most availableagent. A most available agent is one that at the time of request routingthat has the least amount of handling time left for finishing theircurrent transaction considering that there are no idle agents available.

Determining the agent that will be first available is a predictivedetermination since average handling time may differ from agent toagent. In this case the total AHT for the sales group may be used as anindicator value and the agent with the most time in their currentsession is considered the most available agent or more particularly theagent that will be first available to work on the transaction. If atstep 209 through some error no target agent is discovered then theprocess may loop back one step until a most available agent isidentified through analysis of availability statistics. In case of morethan one agent having the same AHT left for their current transactions,one of those agent may be randomly selected to receive the consultrequest.

In one embodiment the sales consult request is manually initiated by thecampaign agent in session with the caller. In another embodiment as soonas the system determines that there are no idle agents, a consultrequest connected to that campaign agent is automatically generated onbehalf of that campaign agent and current session. When a most availableagent is determined at step 209, the SIP-enabled transaction serverroutes the consult request at step 210 to the sales agent terminal. Therequest may be displayed in the sales application running on aLAN-connected computing appliance such as a desktop computer having aGUI. In another embodiment the IM request may be routed to anotherterminal device like a cellular telephone or a LAN connected PBX enabledfor SIP communication and having a URI known to the routing system. Theconsult request may be a standardized request containing informationsuch as the request initiator ID, the nature of the request if there maybe more than one nature, and any other information that can betransferred with the request such as promotional codes or the like toaid in the transaction process.

At step 211 the target sales agent is alerted by visual and perhapsaudible alert of the consult request received at the terminal. In thisstep the agent may finish his or her current sales transaction withoutinterruption or distraction. Also in this step the agent may respond tothe request by accepting the interaction causing the transaction serverto establish the bidirectional IM session between the campaign agent andthe sales agent. At step 212 all of the caller and call data requiredfor finishing the transaction successfully may be conveyed to the salesagent over the established media session and may appear in the salesapplication on the agent desktop. The caller remains in voice sessionwith the campaign agent during the whole process avoiding a wait inqueue where there is a risk of call drop out.

At step 213 the SIP-enabled transaction server builds a voice sessionbetween the caller device (central switch) and the sales terminal sothat a voice session is established between the caller and the salesagent. At step 214 the campaign agent may drop off (SIP sessiontermination) leaving the caller to the sales agent for transactionprocessing. In one embodiment wherein the agent telephones or telephonyapplications are enabled for conferencing, the campaign agent may remainin session with the caller and the sales agent for training purposes orto assist the sales agent with any information not conveyedelectronically to the sales agent. In one embodiment the campaign agentsession is necessarily terminated at the same time the session betweenthe sales agent and the caller is established. In one embodiment novoice session is established between the sales agent and the callerdirectly but the sales agent is patched into the existing session as asilent observer and the established IM session between the agents isused as a coaching channel. In this embodiment the sales agent may typesuggestions to the campaign agent which would aid in closing the saleand finishing the transaction. Any data required for this process may beconveyed from the sales agent to the campaign agent of the alternatemedia session such as IM with file sharing capability, etc.

On with skill in the art of SIP-enabled communications networks willappreciate that data caused to appear in an agent interface may betransferred from one agent terminal to another over the P2P connectionestablished, or it may be pushed to the target sales agent terminal fromanother source such as a CRM system or other server-based data storagesystem. Moreover there are manual, semi-automated, and wholly automatedscenarios that can be accomplished without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention. Using the methods of the present invention,sales agents involved in other duties may be enlisted to processpriority interactions without mandating that callers wait in queue forassistance. In one example agents attending a multi-party conferencecall meeting or multi-party webinar, for example can still be consideredavailable for handling important transactions or for coaching otheragents in transacting with customers without serious interruption totheir current active sessions.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a first and second agent terminalinvolved in a call transfer according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. A campaign agent's terminal 300, referred to herein as afirst agent terminal is illustrated in this example and is analogous toany of agent terminals 122(a-n) of FIG. 1. Terminal 300 is defined as anend destination for an incoming call rather than a single end device.Terminal 300 includes a desktop computer 302 and a telephone handset303. Both computer 302 and telephone handset 303 are enabled for SIPcommunication. Computer 302 is LAN connected and has an SIP URI forrouting purposes when a SIP-enabled communications application isrunning such as IM, a VoIP application or a campaign application nestingone or more communications applications.

Telephone handset 303 may be LAN connected or it may be connecteddirectly to a telephone switch. In one embodiment telephone handset 303may be a PBX phone capable of VoIP voice communication, video and textchat, and file sharing. Other communications equipment hardware andsoftware configurations may exist in this example without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention. A sales agent's terminal301 also referred to herein as a second agent terminal includes aLAN-connected desktop computer 305 and a telephone handset 306 connectedto the LAN or to a central telephone switch whatever the case may be inthe CCE.

In this exemplary embodiment handset 303 has an active call in progressresulting from proactive contact and connection through an outboundcalling campaign or some other proactive activity. This results in aninbound call to the campaign agent in progress on telephone handset 303.During this conversation, the operating agent initiates an IM chatrequest 304 for sales consulting provided by a second agent operating,in this case, terminal 301. Invitation or request 304 may be may beinitiated semi-automatically from a pre-prepared template designed torequest a sales consulting from a receiving sales agent. The campaignagent may send the request by typing in the appropriate information andhitting the send button similar to many chat communications procedures.

In this case the sales agent or second agent operating agent terminal301 receives the IM request 307 on computer 305, and it is displayed inplain view and may come with an audible alert so the agent knows exactlywhen the message is received. In one embodiment the sales agent has anoption for accepting or rejecting the request. In this case hittingaccept causes an SIP session to be created between the agents' terminalsand further messages from the first agent may be generated and sent tothe second agent who may respond to the messages. In a more structuredcampaign environment it may be that receipt of a consult requestautomatically obliges the second agent to accept and respond to therequest in the manner requested such as taking over the transaction orcoaching the first agent to handle or complete the transaction.Call/Caller data 308 may also appear on the computer display of thesecond agent including promotional codes, product/service information,and any other data helpful in resolving the transaction or in assistingthe second agent in coaching the first agent.

Telephone handset 306 registers a ring event in the case of a calltransfer of the call in progress on handset 303 to handset 306. The IMsession between the first and second agent provides information andassurances of assistance for the caller who remains in session with thefirst agent during the process of setting up and establishing the IMconnection between the agent terminals. In the case of a call transferthe first agent may drop out when the second agent is in session withthe caller.

FIG. 4 is a call flow diagram illustrating session setup and teardownusing SIP according to an embodiment of the present invention. In oneembodiment the call consult request sent by a first agent in sessionwith a caller to a second agent results in a call transfer. In a pureSIP embodiment for a next caller in queue, a routing server sendsrouting instruction A targeting an available campaign agent to take acall. A SIP server, which may be hosted on a transaction serveranalogous to TS 120 of FIG. 1 sets up the call legs B of the pending SIPvoice session between the server and the switch or SIP-enabled callerdevice. The SIP server then sets up the call legs C between the Campaignagent's SIP-enabled terminal and the server resulting in an establishedvoice session D between the caller and the campaign agent's terminal.

At a point in the conversation where the caller agrees to a transaction,the campaign agent may send a SIP request E to the routing server forconsulting a sales agent, the request queued for an available agent in apriority ordered sales queue or in a specialized request queue. Therouting server targets F a sales agent or second agent to receive a SIPconsult request in an alternate media such as IM chat. The SIP serverbuilds the call legs G between the first terminal of the campaign agentand the server, and the call legs H between the targeted sales agentterminal and the server resulting in an established IM consult call Ibetween the campaign agent and the sales agent.

The IM session takes place while the caller is in voice session with thefirst agent. The consult call may result in a call transfer and if sothe SIP server establishes the call legs J between the caller terminaland the server, and the call legs K between the sales agent terminal andthe server resulting in voice session L established between the callerand the second agent. When the caller is in session with the secondagent, the SIP server terminates the first voice session D by tearingdown the call legs M and the call legs N resulting in termination of thesession between the caller and the first agent. The second agent canthen finish the sales transaction and the campaign agent can take a nextcall.

FIG. 5 is a process flow chart illustrating steps 500 for synchronizingrouting routine with SIP services according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. In step 501 a call is in progress between a campaignagent and a customer. The call proceeds and in step 502 the agentdetermines if the customer has agreed to a transaction to be completedby a second agent. If at step 502 the customer does not agree to atransaction then the process may end for that customer at step 503 andthe campaign agent may subsequently take a next call at step 504resulting in the state described at step 501 again. If the customeragrees to a transaction at step 502 a SIP request for a consult call maybe initiated by the first agent at step 505. In one embodiment therequest is queued in a priority ordered queue for a sales group ofagents wherein the consult request takes priority over any other queuedrequests to be processed. In another embodiment there is a special queueset up for such consult requests.

At step 506 the system checks for agent availability. In absence of acompletely idle sales agent, agent availability is based on the agentthat has the least amount of time left for finishing a currenttransaction based on an average AHT for the group for the type oftransaction. At step 507 if the system determines that no agent isavailable it may be due to an error as there should be at least oneavailable agent under the given definition of availability so theprocess may resolve back to step 506 until an agent is identified toreceive the consult request.

When an available second agent is identified at step 507 based on thelowest time remaining before the current transaction is completed and ascompared to the other agents in the same group, the SIP server sets up aconsult call between the first and second agents at step 508. At step509 a consult session is established in a media other than voice likeIM, for example. During the consult session, the caller remains on theline with the first agent. At step 510 data about the caller and callincluding sales information, promotional codes, etc. may be shared withthe second agent. The data may be transferred from the first agentterminal tot the second agent terminal using an SIP data channel coupledwith the IM chat session or running parallel to the chat session. Inanother embodiment this data may be pushed to the agent terminal fromsome other location like a central database server that records allinteractions and associated data. In one embodiment the data shared withthe second agent arrives at the agent's terminal while the agent isstill engaged in concluding the current transaction.

In the event that the consult call is a request for a call transferrequiring a voice connection between the caller and the second agent,the transaction server initiates the SIP call transfer at step 511. Thetrigger for this action may be an indication by the second agent thatthe consult call requesting the transfer has been accepted. In oneembodiment the initiation of the call transfer is an automated SIPservice beginning at the termination point of the current voice sessionthe second agent is working on. At step 512 a SIP voice session isestablished between the caller and the second sales agent. At step 513the SIP server tears down the original call in progress and the processends at step 503 for that caller. The campaign agent involved in theoriginal session torn down at step 513 is freed up to accept the nextcall for processing.

With SIP synchronization across the board for session setup andteardown, callers to be transferred to second agents never have to waitin queue for an agent to become available. The time it takes to connectto a second agent is never more than the AHT for a single transaction.This assumes of course that priority is given to the callers that haveresponded to outbound contact. The frequency of outbound calls can alsobe paced so that unsolicited inbound traffic is handled within the scopeof service objectives of the CCE.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that the multi-mediacall distribution system of the invention may be provided using some orall of the mentioned features and components without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention. It will also be apparent tothe skilled artisan that the embodiments described above are specificexamples of a single broader invention, which may have greater scopethan any of the singular descriptions taught. There may be manyalterations made in the descriptions without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A multimedia router, comprising: a processor; and amemory, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed bythe processor, cause the processor to: identify a current communicationsession between a customer and a first agent, wherein the currentcommunication session utilizes a first communication medium; receive,from the first agent, a request for second communication using a secondcommunication medium different from the first communication medium, witha second agent; identify the second agent from a plurality of secondagents based on a prediction of availability of the second agent;establish the second communication using the second communication mediumbetween the first agent and the second agent; and join the second agentto the current communication session for establishing communicationbetween the customer and the second agent using the first communicationmedium, wherein the joining is in response to the communication betweenthe first agent and the second agent using the second communicationmedium.
 22. The multimedia router of claim 21, wherein the second agentis identified based on an amount of handling time left for finishingcurrent transactions among the second agents.
 23. The multimedia routerof claim 21, wherein the first agent remains a party to the currentcommunication session with the customer after the second agent joins thecurrent communication session.
 24. The multimedia router of claim 23,wherein the instructions further cause the processor to disconnect thefirst agent from the current communication session after second agentjoins the current communication session.
 25. The multimedia router ofclaim 21, wherein the instructions further cause the processor toestablish a conference call between the first agent, the second agent,and the customer.
 26. The multimedia router of claim 21, wherein theinstructions further cause the processor to identify another secondagent in response to the second agent not accepting the request for thesecond communication.
 27. The multimedia router of claim 21, wherein theinstructions further cause the processor to display the request for thesecond communication between the first agent and the second agent as avisual or audio alert on a terminal operated by the second agent. 28.The multimedia router of claim 21, wherein the first communicationsession is a voice communication session, and the second communicationis a non-voice communication.
 29. The multimedia router of claim 21,wherein the instructions further cause the processor to provide dataabout the current communication session to the second agent.
 30. Themultimedia router of claim 21, wherein the instructions further causethe processor to enable the second communication between the first agentand the second agent after joining the second agent to the currentcommunication session.
 31. A method for routing calls, the methodcomprising: identifying, by a processor, a current communication sessionbetween a customer and a first agent, wherein the current communicationsession utilizes a first communication medium; receiving, by theprocessor, from the first agent, a request for second communicationusing a second communication medium different from the firstcommunication medium, with a second agent; identifying, by theprocessor, the second agent from a plurality of second agents based on aprediction of availability of the second agent; establishing, by theprocessor, the second communication using the second communicationmedium between the first agent and the second agent; and joining, by theprocessor, the second agent to the current communication session forestablishing communication between the customer and the second agentusing the first communication medium, wherein the joining is in responseto the communication between the first agent and the second agent usingthe second communication medium.
 32. The method of claim 31, wherein thesecond agent is identified based on an amount of handling time left forfinishing current transactions among the second agents.
 33. The methodof claim 31, wherein the first agent remains a party to the currentcommunication session with the customer after the second agent joins thecurrent communication session.
 34. The method of claim 31, furthercomprising disconnecting, by the processor, the first agent from thecurrent communication session after second agent joins the currentcommunication session.
 35. The method of claim 31, wherein joining thesecond agent to the current communication session includes establishing,by the processor, a conference call between the first agent, the secondagent, and the customer.
 36. The method of claim 31, further comprisingidentifying, by the processor, another second agent in response to thesecond agent not accepting the request for the second communication. 37.The method of claim 31, further comprising displaying, by the processor,the request for the second communication between the first agent and thesecond agent as a visual or audio alert on a terminal operated by thesecond agent.
 38. The method of claim 31, wherein the firstcommunication session is a voice communication session, and the secondcommunication is a non-voice communication.
 39. The method of claim 31,further comprising providing, by the processor, data about the currentcommunication session to the second agent.
 40. The method of claim 31,further comprising enabling, by the processor, the second communicationbetween the first agent and the second agent after joining the secondagent to the current communication session.